Saudi retailers are not particularly sophisticated when it comes to customer relations and loyalty. The prevailing attitude even today is one of the customer buys a product and then should be satisfied with it whether or not that product works and if clothing whether or not it fits.
It’s the bottom-line philosophy. By eliminating returns or refunds, retailers in theory can minimize their losses. Not exactly forward thinking, is it? If a customer buys a bad product or an ill-fitting garment, why should he become a repeat customer?
I am particularly offended by the attitude many retailers have about “frivolous” and “whimsical” customers who purchase, and then return items, such as clothes. Excuse me, bub, but where exactly can women try on clothes in your store? Isn’t your policy to make us buy the item, then walk down to the mall restroom to try it on? This has been the lot of Saudi consumers since the first mall opened back in the day when camels still roamed the streets and my grandma was driving a truck between Yanbu and Madinah without being harassed by the police. Saudi Arabia now has Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, the minister of Commerce and Industry, who understands that Saudi consumers must be protected from unchecked business practices that prey on the vulnerable.
“No Returns and No Refunds” signs have come down in most retail shops thanks to Al-Rabiah and consumers can now call a special number to report stores that refuse to accept returns or offer refunds. Many storeowners, naturally, attempt to skirt the new Commerce Ministry regulations by making it inconvenient for customers to return products, but there has been an immense improvement in the last couple of years. Yet whining from business owners persist. One retailer complained that the Commerce Ministry’s “decision … opens the door for whimsical customer behavior, especially with regards to clothes, because they will practice a hobby of exchange and return while saying that the clothes they returned do not fit. The store cannot verify whether or not the customer used the clothes. Some women use readymade clothes to attend a function and then return the piece later. That is why we have to use a policy of no cash refund. We do, however, allow the customers to exchange the piece, or we issue a credit note of up to one year instead of money returned.” Boo-hoo! Retailers in most parts of the world factor in customers who abuse the return policies as the cost of business and maintain such a policy as part of the business’ projected revenue scheme.
And in a departure from the government’s previous laissez-faire attitude toward business/customer relationships, the Commerce Ministry not long ago conducted a survey among Saudi car buyers to determine customer satisfaction with car dealers. The survey found that 61 percent of car buyers in Saudi Arabia expressed dissatisfaction with car dealers’ customer service departments. The Commerce Ministry has since taken steps to improve after-car purchase customer service. It imposed penalties against three car agencies after finding that they failed to respond to manufacturing defects, provide proper vehicle maintenance and provide spare parts. Eight car dealers received fines for failing to display vehicle prices.
The ministry’s reach also extends to food services for Haj pilgrims. In Makkah, for example, the ministry has stepped up inspections at restaurants near the Grand Mosque and in the Aziziah District where huge numbers of pilgrims are housed. The ministry granted licenses to more than 2,200 food vendors to complement the 35,000 existing permanent eateries to ensure that pilgrims can conveniently find a place to eat that is safe and hygienic.
To emphasize the seriousness of its task, the ministry already has fined one catering company SR22,200 for unhygienic conditions and arrested nearly two dozen expat cooks who were not officially registered on their work permits as food preparers.
Saudis and expats have contended for many years with a very “every man for himself” when it comes to dealing with business that did not play fair. There are plenty of them still out there, but it’s a relief to find the Commerce Ministry taking such an aggressive role to protect the consumer.
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